The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that it has launched a series of polio immunization campaigns in east Africa after a new case was confirmed in Somalia.

WHO said in a statement that concern has been growing that outbreaks in neighboring Ethiopia and Yemen could spread across porous borders into Somalia.

Emergency measures have been put in place now that a case has been confirmed in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, it said in a statement. Somalia had been free of the disease since 2002.

"The plan will see large-scale series of immunization campaigns coordinated across eight countries -- Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and parts of Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- between September and November," it said.

WHO said the first phase of the plan is being launched on September 28 in Somalia, where 1.5 million children under the age of five will be targeted for immunization.

The campaigns will reach more than 34 million children with multiple doses of polio vaccine and rapidly boost population immunity in the Horn of Africa.

"The rapid and large-scale response is largely possible due to a US$25 million grant provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and support by other donors including the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission," WHO said.

"The polio eradication initiative has shown the world that even in the poorest countries, widespread and debilitating disease can be defeated," Patty Stonesifer, co-chair and president of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was quoted as saying.

WHO conducted five nationwide campaigns this year in Somalia, most recently in June, July and August to prevent the risk of a large-scale epidemic.

It however, said rising insecurity in the lawless African nation and low routine immunization rates could still result in rapid spread of the virus across Somalia.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2005))